European Football League

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European Football League
European Football League logo.png
Sport Gridiron football
Founded 1986
No. of teams 13
Country(ies) Europe
Most recent champion(s) Swarco Raiders Tirol
Official website Eurobowl.info

The European Football League (EFL) is a European Cup style tournament for European American Football teams affiliated to EFAF (European Federation of American Football). The final game of the EFL is called the Eurobowl, which has been held annually since 1986.

Contents

EFL [edit]

Under the governance of EFAF, comparable with UEFA in football, the best American Football teams in Europe participate in an annual competition. EFAF determine the relative strength of each of its 17 affiliate leagues and allocates teams to the 4 divisions accordingly, thus not all nations take part. National League Champions, runners-up or teams with International success are eligible for the EFL. Teams from 'weaker' leagues may take part in the EFAF Cup a sort of UEFA Europa League for European American Football teams.

Format [edit]

Teams are split into 4 divisions of 3 or 2 teams. In a division of 3 teams play 2 matches, once at home to one opponent and the other away to the other opponent. In a division of 2 teams, each team plays each other home and away. The division winners then advance to the play-offs.

The play-off format was changed for the 2008 season. Tournament will be expanded to an eight-team competition. The two finalists from the 2007 season, Vienna Vikings and Marburg Mercenaries, earned automatic berths for the next season and the two semi-finalists, Eidsvoll 1814's from Norway and Tirol Raiders from Austria, earned a spot for the national champions of their respective countries. In quarterfinals these teams face the four winners of the divisional round. In semi-finals teams will be paired by the Eurobowl seeding system, with the best-seeded team facing the worst and the second-best facing the second-worst. Winners will then advance to the Eurobowl.

For a list of Champions by year see Eurobowl.

Records and statistics [edit]

By club [edit]

Club Won Runner-up Years won Years runner-up
Austria Vikings Vienna 4 4 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 2001, 2003, 2008, 2010
Austria Swarco Raiders Tirol 3 0 2008, 2009, 2011
Italy Bergamo Lions 3 3 2000, 2001, 2002 1994, 2004, 2005
Germany Hamburg Blue Devils 3 2 1996, 1997, 1998 1999, 2000
Netherlands Amsterdam Crusaders 2 3 1991, 1992 1988, 1989, 1993
Germany Braunschweig Lions 2 1 1999, 2003 2002
United Kingdom London Olympians 2 1 1993, 1994 1995
Germany Berlin Adler 1 2 2010 1991, 2011
Italy Legnano Frogs 1 1 1989 1990
Germany Düsseldorf Panther 1 0 1995
United Kingdom Manchester Spartans 1 0 1990
Finland Helsinki Roosters 1 0 1988
Finland Taft Vantaa 1 0 1986

by country [edit]

Championships Country Year
7 Austria Austria 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011
7 Germany Germany 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2010
4 Italy Italy 1989, 2000, 2001, 2002
3 United Kingdom United Kingdom 1990, 1993, 1994
2 Netherlands Netherlands 1991, 1992
2 Finland Finland 1986, 1988

See also [edit]

External links [edit]